Shares in the Australasian newspaper and radio group APN fell sharply after Independent News & Media announced that it could not find a buyer for its 39.1% stake. APN, which is due to release its full-year 2008 results on February 25, is expected to report a net profit of A$148m (£70m), about 11.4% down on the previous year. (Via New Zealand Herald)

The New Zealand provincial newspaper, the Daily Chronicle, which serves the Horowhenua-Kapiti area north of Wellington, will soon be unable to live up to its title. It is to publish only two days a week, and will be given away free. Its owners, APN - a division of Tony O'Reilly's company, Independent News & Media - said a loss of advertising revenue had contributed to the decision to downsize. (Via New Zealand Herald/NZPA)

New Zealand's press council has sounded a warning about the outsourcing of production and subediting. It says reduced local oversight of newspapers brings "an increased risk of simple factual errors being overlooked and of offending local sensitivities". Last year APN New Zealand, an arm of Independent News & Media, outsourced much of its production to a central hub in Auckland operated by an Australian company, Pagemasters.

The death in Kenya of New Zealand photojournalist Trent Keegan is is proving to be a real mystery. His body was found in a drainage trench off the main highway that runs through Nairobi. He had suffered serious head injuries. Hours earlier he had been questioned by police and security guards from a safari park following his investigations into claims that people had been evicted from land to make way for the park. Keegan, 33, worked for several Irish newspapers, including the Galway Advertiser, which carries a story here. Police are looking into claims that he was killed in a hit and run incident. (Via New Zealand Herald)

The editor and owner of the New Zealand daily, the Dominion Post, have been charged with contempt of court. The charges against Tim Pankhurst, editor of the Wellington-based paper, and its owner, Fairfax, follow the paper's publication of articles based on conversations recorded by the police surveillance of people they then suspected of terrorism. (Via New Zealand Herald)

Now where have we seen this before? New Zealand's civil aviation authority has condemned a journalist for boarding a plane at Auckland airport carrying a knife and a fake revolver. Sunday News reporter Jonathan Marshall said: "There were no checks." He carried out the mission just 24 hours after two pilots and a passenger were stabbed by a woman in an attempted hijack. She was arrested after a scuffle. (Via New Zealand Herald/NZPA)